What does a 10 year old do for her birthday? Eat bugs and make a sock puppet!

My little girl turned 10 this week. Her requests were simple: A trip to the lake and a chocolate covered ant. Rainy weather and a mixup at the candy shop meant she got neither. But we still had a good time!

First on the agenda: Take her dad to a children’s museum. Discovery Science Place in Tyler, TX had an exhibit on predators. Even us grownups learned a little!

Second: Go to the pet store. Ask mom for another guinea pig. When mom refuses, show dad the cute little hamsters and lop-eared bunny.

Third: Take grownups for a walk at nearby dog park.

It was a full day and I was proud to see how well she handled some minor disappointments. When we got home, we were pleased to see a box from Candy Galaxy by the door. The video below shows how she spent the last few minutes before bed time:

Party Day

We had her birthday party a day late, so that she could spend some quality time with her dad. The party was simple this year. No splashing in the water and no science tricks. Just a good time making sock puppets and eating cake with a close friend, who has been there for her since kindergarten.

The eyes are made of marshmallow halves and chocolate chips. The nostrils and mouths are made with Cakemate brand decorator gel. I got this idea from recipe.com – telling the brands I used because some people have reported bad results when trying to make these.

My daughter was very excited when I let her pick out 5 tree to top her cake with on party day 🙂

We used a mixture of sewing and super glue to attach buttons, googley eyes, pom poms, and pipe cleaners to the sock puppets.